Mkhize to continue as KZN premier

Zweli Mkhize will continue as KwaZulu-Natal premier and there are no plans to have him replaced before the 2014 election, the provincial ANC has said.

Mkhize was elected treasurer-general of the ANC at its national elective conference in Mangaung in December.

ANC rules dictate that he cannot hold a position on both the national executive committee and the provincial executive committee (PEC).

ANC KwaZulu-Natal secretary Sihle Zikalala said the provincial general council (PGC) would have to find a new chairperson, but this would not affect Mkhize’s position as premier.

The ANC would also have to elect replacements for Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant, former provincial ANC Women’s League chairperson Lungi Gcabashe, and State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, all of whom were elected to the national executive committee.

Zikalala said nominations of members for the PEC had started and would be completed by the time the party held its PGC early in March.

Zikalala said the PEC met yesterday to discuss several issues. It accepted a report from a task team led by former home affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

The team found that a number of ANC councillors had been improperly nominated to stand for election in the 2011 local government elections.

While not divulging details, Zikalala said the party would “work to ensure that the recommendations of the report are implemented”.

He described media reports that councillors would be removed as “not factual”.

He said the PEC would also formally ask the provincial government to take over administration of the Imbabazane municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

The ANC and the National Freedom Party entered into a coalition to run the municipality following the 2011 local government elections.

However, the coalition floundered and ANC mayor Phindile Strydom and speaker Mondli Mkhize were unseated in June by a vote of Inkatha Freedom Party and NFP members.

Zikalala said: “The court recently ruled that the ousting of the ANC mayor and speaker was illegal and that all financial commitments made since then were illegal.

“We therefore call on the provincial government to intervene in Imbabazane to ensure that service delivery is not compromised.”

It is a historical fact that Jan van Riebeeck arrived in Table Bay in the Western Cape on April 6 1652 and found Autshumato and his people.It is also a fact that Van Riebeeck had strict instructions to build good relations with the Khoisan to trade cattle with them.